Bob Dorough
b. Robert L. Dorough, 12 December 1923, Cherry Hill, Arkansas, USA. After playing piano as a youth he studied piano and composition at college in Texas before attending Columbia University in New York. During this time he also played in New York clubs and soon began singing to his own accompaniment. In the '50s he worked in New York and Paris where he was resident for a while, playing as a solo act and also in small groups accompanying visiting American artists. He was back in the USA at the end of the decade, and in the early '60s recorded with Miles Davis. During the '70s and '80s he combined playing clubs, usually as a solo, with work in television as a composer. His songwriting activities encompass music and lyrics. Dorough's singing style displays his appreciation of the songwriter's art and he is an especially interesting interpreter of lyrics. His sound reveals his links with the jazz world through his subtle and rhythmic phrasing.